Guest Author
I have never owned a gun. I’m certain there’s no personal God who hears and answers our prayers.
So naturally I found the New York Daily News headline – “God isn’t fixing this” – intriguing.
Some editors there apparently decided to issue a collective scream after the slaughter in San Bernardino on Wednesday and the lame “our prayers are with the victims” responses by GOP presidential candidates.
I understand that the headline is not blaming God. It’s the predictable reaction of powerful gun-rights supporters that drives reasonable people nuts.
I have heard some gun-rights advocates say that gun ownership is a “God-given” right. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I hear that.
Of course, it’s a constitutional right based on a poorly written Second Amendment that, I hope, some day will be re-examined by the U.S. Supreme Court and reined in.
Until then, though, we need political leaders to muster the courage to curb gun violence. If they don’t, I guess prayers will have to do.
I’m sure that most gun owners pray regularly.
The gunman who killed three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last week was “deeply religious,” according to a story in The New York Times.
It appears that the San Bernardino husband-and-wife killers were devout Muslims. It seems that Allah doesn’t oppose using assault rifles and pipe bombs.
Most gun owners in the U.S. are white, male Republicans. The South has the highest percentage of gun owners (38 percent) in the country and rural folks tell pollsters that 51 percent of them have a gun in the home.
I’ve never heard of a white, Southern, rural, male Republican who doesn’t believe in God.
And, of course, anyone running for president believes in God. An atheist wouldn’t have a prayer.
So, it’s only natural that the GOP candidates would be offering prayers to the shooting victims instead of suggesting ways to reduce the recurring slaughter.
There have been 1,052 mass shootings in 1,066 days in the United States, according to the Guardian newspaper. “There is a mass shooting – defined as four or more people shot in one incident – nearly every day,” the paper reports.
I understand that keeping assault rifles out of the hands of mentally ill people isn’t easy. I know that the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights organizations provide a lot of money to political candidates.
I understand that it’s difficult for law enforcement to identify and thwart every potential gunman before he kills. And I realize that despite all the recent mayhem, Americans still are ambivalent about restricting gun ownership.
But there are simple, sensible steps that can be taken now. For example:
- Institute comprehensive background checks without gun-show loopholes;
- Ban the sale of semiautomatic weapons and assault-style rifles;
- Ban high-capacity ammunition clips and the sale of ammunition online; and
- Make it more difficult for mentally ill people to buy guns.
There are many more common-sense measures that could be enacted. And even if all were adopted, mass killings would continue. But there would be fewer of them.
Reducing the number of military-style weapons and the ammo that goes with them will take decades of hard work in our gun-loving culture.
But we need to get started. Otherwise, we’ll be offering prayers for more and more innocent victims for a long, long time.
Tom O’Hara is a veteran newspaperman. He is the former managing editor of The Palm Beach Post and the Plain Dealer in Ohio. His email: [email protected].
For more state and national commentary visit Context Florida.
